Former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said that the guilty verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin stemming from the killing of George Floyd will be a “seminal moment” in American policing.
“We still have a long way to go, but the death of Mr. Floyd will accelerate and make much more comprehensive that process of change, and you see it already in the sense of the president of the United States, the vice president, tonight, speaking out in support of the legislation they’ve filed,” said Bratton.
Just a few hours after Chauvin was found guilty on charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the nation and reinforced their support of police reform.
“Last summer, with Senator Cory Booker and Representative Karen Bass, I introduced the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act… The president and I will continue to urge the Senate to pass this legislation,” said Harris.
Bratton told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that reforming the police would not come from defunding the police, but from effectively funding police departments to recruit and train the best and brightest officers.
“If there’s one great deficiency in American policing today, it is training,” said Bratton. “There’s not enough of it at the beginning of the career. There is definitely not enough of it during the course of their career.”
A trial for three of the other officers involved in Floyd’s arrest, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, is set to begin in August.
